Author: Dan Seeger

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We skipped the light fandango, turned cartwheels ‘cross the floor

Dan Seeger

Hey, as long as the Academy keeps delivering these melanin-challenged rosters of acting nominees, I’m going to keep drawing from “A Whiter Shade of Pale” to headline my reaction posts. I’ll concede that this is something of a case of industry opportunity limiting the viable contenders, but Idris Elba’s performance in Beasts of No Nation had a place in nearly every set of precursor nominations and Michael B. Jordan deserves at least as much consideration for his work in Creed as Sylvester Stallone. It turns out Academy voters were as forgetful about the black artists’ contributions to the film as Stallone was … Continue reading We skipped the light fandango, turned cartwheels ‘cross the floor

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Now Playing: The Revenant

Dan Seeger

It is probably my own fault, believing on the scantest of evidence that director Alejandro González Iñárritu had found a new avenue for his artistic expression. As problematic as Birdman might be as the reigning Academy Award winner for Best Picture, particularly over Richard Linklater’s remarkable Boyhood, it signaled a useful shift in the filmmaker’s blindingly self-satisfied march through ever-mounting misery. The film still trafficked in overt nihilism, but couching it in the wryest comedy gave it just enough of a tinge of enlightenment to make it devilishly engaging rather than redundantly soul-deadening. If The Revenant is an accurate example … Continue reading Now Playing: The Revenant

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Now Playing: The Danish Girl and Joy

Dan Seeger

In this era of Caitlyn Jenner and loads of respectful awards attention paid to the Amazon series Transparent, it’s tempting to look at the tepid, staid The Danish Girl as sadly behind the times in its depiction of an individual coming to terms with their true self. Then Ricky Gervais returns to the Golden Globes hosting gig with a slew of jokes that utilize cheap, hateful mockery of transgendered individuals as punchlines, the least offensive of which is the dig at Jenner which has stirred the most ire. (The casual derision towards Jeffrey Tambor’s work in Transparent, with Gervais, for … Continue reading Now Playing: The Danish Girl and Joy

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David Bowie, 1947 – 2016

Dan Seeger

“TOMORROW BELONGS TO THOSE WHO CAN HEAR IT COMING” Fittingly, it is unreal, like an elaborate ruse. In my heart, it is simply another strange, challenging expression of restless artistry. David Bowie always had an otherworldly authority to him, even aside from the instances in which he purposefully claimed alien personae, so it stands to reason that a late-in-life guise, a long-gestating follow-up to Ziggy Stardust or the Thin White Duke, would involve something more ethereal. Here’s a method to haul the heavens down to the earthly firmament, claiming an angelic cloak nicely timed to coincide with the release of a new … Continue reading David Bowie, 1947 – 2016

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College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, An Introduction

Dan Seeger

Though I occasionally postured otherwise, I arrived at my college radio station in the fall of 1988 with a keen awareness that I had a lot to learn. Much as I wish I could report that I filled my high school years with gloomy nights in my basement bedroom playing Meat is Murder or Psychocandy over and over again, taking solace in the solidarity of bands that expertly tapped into levels of despair that had a tangy tinge of teenaged agony to them, I was a relative latecomer to college rock. There were surely flirtations before, but I didn’t fall … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, An Introduction

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From the Archive: Shining Through and Medicine Man

Dan Seeger

This doubled-up review was written for The Pointer, the weekly student newspaper at UW-Steven Point, where I secured my undergraduate degree. I tended to write about two films per week, especially since it was so rare the Central Wisconsin theaters provided really interesting titles while school was in session. Sometimes, I strained a bit to find a way to link the films in the obligatory introduction. This isn’t exactly one of the stronger efforts, I’ll admit. February releases provided their own set of challenges.    It’s hard to fault a movie for having ambition. As dull sequels, idiotic comedies, and one-note … Continue reading From the Archive: Shining Through and Medicine Man

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One for Friday: Smart Remarks, “Mary’s Got Her Eye On Me Tonight”

Dan Seeger

I recently noticed that Little Hits is gone. As anyone who’s been scoring along at home might know, Little Hits was a music blog that went a long way towards inspiring this weekly feature. Updated regularly, the blog shared MP3s and reminiscences about the songs and bands they contained. My affection didn’t simply stem from the fact that I enjoyed the music shared there, nor was it the genial, knowledgable essays that earned my devotion. I did like the songs and the writing, but it was the actual nature of the selections that thrilled me, specifically the way in which the name … Continue reading One for Friday: Smart Remarks, “Mary’s Got Her Eye On Me Tonight”

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Broomfield, Demme, Radice, Safdie and Safdie, Truffaut

Dan Seeger

Ricki and the Flash (Jonathan Demme, 2015). By the last third of the film, it seems clear that Demme’s chief motivation for taking on this project is the opportunity to apply his extensive experience directing concert films to this fictional story of a derelict mother (Meryl Streep) who fronts a bar band. He certainly demonstrates only passing interest in the tepid familial drama in the script, written by Diablo Cody with a equal freedom from her previous dialogue quirks and recognizable humanity. When Streep’s bedraggled singer returns to her former home, responding to a suicide attempt by her daughter (Mamie Gummer), every … Continue reading Broomfield, Demme, Radice, Safdie and Safdie, Truffaut

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Top 40 Smash Taps: “Breakdown”

Dan Seeger

These posts are about the songs that can accurately claim to crossed the key line of chart success, becoming Top 40 hits on Billboard, but just barely. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 40. Tom Petty made his way into the Billboard Top 40 sixteen times, with and without the Heartbreakers (including twice with Stevie Nicks, but never as a Wilbury). His very first visit to the charts was with his group’s debut single, albeit not right away. “Breakdown” was issued in 1976, and completely stalled out on the charts, as did the band’s self-titled debut album. … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “Breakdown”

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My Misspent Youth: Marvel Team-Up #100 by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller

Dan Seeger

I read a lot of comic books as a kid. This series of posts is about the comics I read, and, occasionally, the comics that I should have read. I had just begun my delirious jaunt into the magical land of superhero comics when the SPECIAL DOUBLE-SIZE 100TH ISSUE! of Marvel Team-Up hit newsstands, way back when that was actually a place a person could buy comic books. I wasn’t buying any Spider-Man comics yet, nor was X-Men part of my monthly habit, which theoretically have made me interested in this issue, given that it was written by the scribe … Continue reading My Misspent Youth: Marvel Team-Up #100 by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller